Partners in Justice
by JustWhelmed
Summary: Oh, it was just a regular day in the life of crime fighting. Piss off the angry men with guns, talk about Black Ops while tied up in the middle of the school cafeteria, and whine about flunked Calculus exams. Nothing too special. /Rated for very little language.


"So, KF, how y'been?"

"Oh, dude, I've been freaking terrible."

"Does this situation have anything to do with it?"

"Hell no. More pressing matters. I totally _flunked _that Calculus exam yesterday, and I need to study, but these stupid idiots are holding me up. I mean, seriously, doesn't education come first?"

"Not with you, Mr. Hey-Rob-Lets-Play-Black-Ops-At-2AM-On-A-School-Night."

"You never say no."

"That's because I know I can still beat your butt and be on time for first period."

"Woah, hey, remember? You've been beaten more than once!"

"Woah, hey, remember? That was totally from a different player!"

Their voices rung in the anxious, whimpering silence that stretched long and hard in the resonating space that was Central High's cafeteria. Students were huddled around the walls, tables had been heaved to the corners, and most of the present population was gaping at the two bickering and laughing superheroes that were tied back to back in the centre of the room. That was, all of the population not too scared to stop themselves from peering up at them at all.

The reason for that was the men. Well, more like the guns, but the men were the ones with the guns, and that was worse. They had caught the school unawares when they had barged in during first lunch, and when the rest of the school found out and ran to aid, they discovered then that they had been blocked and locked off. Double doors leading into hallways were barricaded, and the entrance to the school was heavily guarded. Aside from those points of interest, there weren't even any windows, that being due to the fact that the cafeteria was in the middle front of the school.

It was curious as to why the heavily guarded, clearly serious men were doing what they were doing. The high school was no bank. The children were no celebrities. But as one man at one point had yanked up a Freshman girl with a gun to her temple and words to the air, it was clear that they were there to make a point of revenge. After all, weren't children the brain of the next generation, and the heart of the current one?

Honestly, they really weren't men at all. In fact, the oldest couldn't be older than 18, maybe 19. Which, of course, lead to the conclusion that it wasn't for profit – the entire thing was personal.

Didn't mean superheroes couldn't get involved, though.

The men wanted grief, but all the two superheroes teasing each other in the centre of the room wanted was a happy ending. So what better way to grate at the men's nerves than to give them what they didn't want?

"You know, I think it's just your ninja skills that give you the advantage," Wally complained loudly. "Videogame characters don't have super speed!"

Robin cackled. "Just goes to show that you should always have a backup plan. Anyway, if it makes you feel any better, my so-called 'ninja skills' are a lot better in real life."

"Yeah? So is my speed," Wally scowled, exaggerating the pettiness of his expression.

A gun was jabbed harshly at his forehead. "Shut the fuck up!" yelled the man, boy, late teenager. The metal barrel thumped with Wally's skull. "I don't have any god damn issues with you, kid. Don't give me a reason to blow your head in, too," he growled.

"Are you even planning on blowing anyone's head in?" Robin quipped in helpfully. "I mean, you're ranting about this whole 'Rawr, I'm going to a make a point' spiel, but you haven't even touched us."

The man paused, staring at Robin, before swivelling around on his heels and barking to someone leaning against an unoccupied wall. "Tony!" he called, said person lifting their head to attention. "Grab a kid, I'll show them how I make a point!"

Wally roughly elbowed Robin in the ribs. Robin snorted loudly, drawing the first man's attention back to him. "What, so you're just going to kill some random kid as a point? That's pretty stupid. I mean, here you have the Boy Wonder and the Fastest Boy Alive, all tied up for you like a nice little Christmas gift, hearts of Gotham and Central, and you're just going to ignore us? I say you're a bad host."

"You sound like the freaking Joker," Wally hissed in warning. When Robin didn't acknowledge him, though, Wally decided to play along and continue where Robin left off. "Duh, listen to Rob, he's actually smart," said the Fastest Boy Alive. "What bigger point would you make if you shot us instead? You'd go down in history!"

The first man looked at them as if they were suicidal. Which, according to him and everyone else present, they probably were. But he was angry. He was so full of anger that he had been driven to what was going on at that moment, and thus with the taunts his face turned colour, his breathing grew erratic, and he clutched his gun with white fists. After all, when one was angry, they often grew reckless.

There was a few more whimpers, cries, and squeals of protest from the outer ring of students.

The man stood there, panting. Wally, otherwise known as Kid Flash, histrionically rolled his eyes. "Wow, Rob, looks like he doesn't have the guts."

"Dang, and I was really hoping we'd get to take on some guys who know how to do things right."

"You poor soul!" Wally cried theatrically. "How dreadful this entire ordeal must be for you to witness."

Robin sighed loudly. "Woe is me, woe is me."

Tony, the man who had been leaning against the wall, had already gotten a lanky boy by the collar and was attempting to drag him up from his sniffling and fetal position on the floor. He waved his gun beside him. "Hey, Brice! What'd y'want me to do with this guy, then?"

"I don't care!" Brice, the first man, yelled in frustration.

Instantly, as Tony drew up his arm, Robin shouted. "Coward!"

A gunshot rang out. The sound resonated, and many students screamed. It clanked as it bounced off the metal of the lunch window curtain. A miss. With a gasp and the starting of relieved sobs, the lanky boy sunk back to the floor. Tony turned to Robin in anger.

In that split second, Wally and Robin's eyes met, and Robin's eyes flickered down to the ropes coiled around their waists. His fingers found Wally's palm, and Wally forced his facial expression to remain neutral as he could feel the lack of ropes around Robin's wrists. "Dodge it, put me on the floor," he hissed quickly, and Wally didn't question it. He couldn't have questioned it, anyway, as Tony raised his gun.

But as the bullet left the barrel, Wally saw it differently than anyone else in the room did. He saw the small sparks igniting from the front of the barrel, heard the very beginnings of the blast before it became a boom, and while all of that was in seemingly slow motion, his own movements weren't hindered at all. He was a normal speed in a too slow world, and he was easily able to push off the ground with his legs hard enough that he sprang backwards and landed Robin front first on the hard floor, knowing the bullet would whizz over his head. But they only had a second.

The moment Robin landed on the ground, Wally could feel that his elbows were propped, and he dropped into a planked position. Then, miraculously, he was somehow able to start wriggling out. Wally's own scientifically based mind figured that he used Wally's weight to press them the closest together, so that gravity would cause any possible leeway in the rope formed from all of their thrashing about to fall on Robin's end. His own muscled body was lean and he had such small hips that it was only a matter of time. He pushed forward with his arms after straining through the rope in a planked position, therefore flinging himself fully onto the ground. However, the force from the push itself caused a coil to slip past his hip.

Wally knew what to do, as Tony yelled in anger and began shooting haphazardly. He was to dodge, of course, but all the movement Wally knew would cause Robin to lose his progress. So as Wally rolled to dodge another bullet, he put the both of them to their sides, stretched his legs out flat, and shoved down at the ropes around their bodies with his own tied wrists. As the rope got past Robin's hip, he rolled again, still holding onto the rope's position as best he could, so that Robin was back on bottom with one leg free. Immediately, Robin grabbed the rope on his other hip, pushing down as Wally rolled around, and when Robin was rolled to the top, he grasped the rope at both of his sides, bent forward, and rolled head first out of it.

With Robin free, there was more than enough room for Wally to spring up and slip out of it. There was, however, still his hands, but he didn't need his hands to run. He continually flit around the room, being mindful of where a stray bullet could hit a student, and kept Tony's, who was joined by Brice's, aggravated attention on him.

Attention enough that Robin was able to spring behind Tony, who was behind Brice, and disarm him. He proceeded to spin around and smash the gun on the top of Brice's head, causing him to crumble, as men around the room stirred in shock. The men who hadn't been the centre of attention hadn't expected to need to shoot anything at all. Sadly, that was what cost them, as they were late compared to what the Fastest Boy Alive needed.

Wally spun around the room, using his own shoulder and body to knock the weapons out of men's arms. Within a second's timing, he approached Robin, who already had a knife from his boot out. Robin wasted no time in grinding against Wally's bound wrists, and he hurriedly ducked as a few men regained their weapons and began to shoot the moment that Wally was free. Robin let him handle the rest.

Robin was more than thankful for the quick thinking of the students. They hadn't been bound. There probably wasn't enough rope. The moment the shooting had begun, some of them had run as fast as possible to take shelter behind the discarded tables, which were folded and provided perfect cover. Only a handful of students had not yet moved, and Robin dashed to those ones, shoving at their backs or grabbing their upper arms, anything to get them into motion.

As soon as they were safe, he spun back to join Wally in the fray, and minutes later all of the men were either unconscious or had taken a run for it through front doors. The two heroes stood there in satisfaction, grinning their sweaty smiles at one another for as long as they could before tentative students inched their way out from hiding.

Most were crying. Actually, scratch that, just about all of them were crying. But those who weren't so shocked as to curl up and remain in a ball for the rest of their lives approached Robin and Kid Flash, tears streaming down their faces and their eyes red and puffy. They stood in silence, staring at their heroes, too scared to smile and too shocked to speak. But they hadn't a chance to, for within moments, the doors burst open and a different sort of armed men streamed in, frantic, alarmed.

It was an hour or two later, as people were reunited and parents had joined the crying chaos that some of those which had approached the two heroes lived up to their expected offer.

The bravest of them was a lanky boy, the one from earlier, and one that reminded Robin an awful lot of Wally. Though he shook, he stood there as sturdy as he could, and stared at Wally with wide, grateful, _admiring _eyes. "Thank—"he took a shaky breath and turned to look at Robin, who had moved to stand beside his friend. More relieved tears fell. "You…"

Robin's eyes crinkled as he smiled and, apart from an 'of course', made no indication of doing anything else. After all, unlike Wally, he wasn't an affectionate person. But Wally went so far as to put a hand on the kid's shoulder and grin at him that loose, silly, absurdly amicable grin of his. "You don't have to thank me at all."

"How did you—"the teenager tried to say. Under Wally's soft, questioning gaze, he stumbled. "How did you know what either of you were going to do? How… How could you act so… calm?"

Robin shrugged. "It wasn't an act," he said. "How could it be an act when I know that if there's even the slightest chance of ending up okay, this guy here has my back?"

Wally glanced at Robin, and Robin smiled back. "We're partners," Wally replied, as if in clarification. "No big-mouthed temper tantrum can get in the way of that, friend."

The kid looked speechless, and Robin didn't blame him. After all, he probably wasn't expecting the entire ordeal to be belittled as a 'temper tantrum' – it was only Wally's way of dealing with his emotions of the situation – or be called something as personal as a friend. But Robin knew Wally well enough to not be surprised. To Wally, everyone was a friend until proven otherwise.

Or, until proven partner, that was.

**I was in need of a good drabble.**

**No idea where I was going with this, and it was supposed to be longer. I think I'll rewrite it someday.**

**If you enjoyed, please let me know! Reviews are food for my soul.**

**Until next time!**


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